JAWS, 25th Anniversary Collectors Edition
By: Glenn SandersDate: Tuesday, July 18, 2000
I have without exaggeration seen Jaws 18 trillion times, often stumbling across it on cable, then unable to change the channel. Yet each time I see it I am utterly surprised at how good it is. I can only assume my surprise is because there's kind of a negative stereotype about Jawsthat it's 'the ultimate bubble gum movie' or that it transformed Hollywood from 'The Dream Factory' into 'The Sequel Factory.' But despite its unfair reputation, Jaws is undeniably a great movie, a classic that plays just as well today as it did twenty-five years ago. The new Collector's Edition DVD does well by its source material; but the extras, though plentiful, are somewhat uneven in quality.
The plot centers on a small eastern seaboard island that is threatened when a rogue shark starts gnawing on its precious summer tourists. Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) takes it upon himself to save the day by enlisting the help of Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), a shark expert, and Quint (Robert Shaw), a salty fisherman. The fine acting of the leads is happily punctuated by cheesy acting in the smaller roles (such as the whiny drunk guy who reports the first victim). And then there's the shark, which shows itself late in the movie, and looks completely ridiculous yet still manages to be scary.
The film looks and sounds great, and is perfect for the DVD format. As a gore hound, I watched each of the death scenes multiple times, sometimes in slow-motion, sometimes in backwards slo-mo ('hey, that shark just gave birth to a naked lady!'). The crystal clear picture and sound underscore how beautifully the two work together in this film. John Williams' legendary score is used sparingly (the most suspenseful moments are without music), which would be a good idea for the Michael Bays of the world. Plus the sound effects are at times almost hysterically surrealas when the shark jumps on the boat, snapping its jaws and making smacking sounds as if it's eating a PBJ sandwich. It's those smurfy details that were meant to be discovered on DVD.
The DVD menus are mercifully simple and easy to navigate. The first extra is called 'Spotlight on Location: The Making of Jaws.' This is easily the best making-of featurette I've yet seen, detailing story development, pre-production, casting, special effects, shooting, editing, and score. It includes a lot of new interviews with a surprising number of participants, such as Spielberg, Scheider, Dreyfuss, author-screenwriter Peter Benchley, co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck, effects and second-unit crew, two of the shark victims themselves, and others. The featurette also weaves a number of outtakes, production footage and stills, storyboards, and even home movies Spielberg made during filming and editing, all of which tell the long, troubled story of how difficult this film was to make, and what a happy surprise when it was a huge, overwhelming success. At just under an hour, I'd have been thrilled with a lot more of the same.
Alas, it kind of goes down from there. Five of the 10 deleted scenes would more appropriately be called alternate takes, as they are just longer versions of scenes that are actually in the movie. The best of the deleted scenes involves Quint, a music shop, and a young musician, and that's all I'll say, because it's a delightful moment you should discover for yourself. The other scenes are truly nothing special (though that's often the case with deleted sceneswhich is why they're deleted, right?).
The outtakes are the most perplexing, since there are only two, both extremely short. Yet the making-of featurette hints at a wealth of cool outtakes they could have addedthere has to be a ton of footage somewhere in Universal's vaults with scenes of the shark malfunctioning, or the famed accidental sinking of the Orca early in production. Very disappointing.
The 'Get Out of the Water!' trivia game is fairly short, with only 12 questions ranging from laughably easy to insanely difficult. When you get to the end, remember to turn your volume downit automatically plays a particularly loud scene in the movie. Since there are no stakes and relatively few questions, this is another underwhelming extra.
'Shark World' is a bit more interesting, with about 10 text screens of scientific information on our sharp-toothed friends. Yet once again I insist there could have been more moremore--MORE! I will at least concede that 'Shark World' is a reasonable extra that covers its topic with enough substance for less picky viewers.
Thankfully, the production photos and storyboards reverse the trend, providing a wealth of images. There are easily a hundred photos focusing on cast, crew, and production, plus press materials, books, toys, promo items, international posters, Oscar ads, and more. Though I often grit my teeth plugging through boring production photos, that is definitely not the case here, and this ends up being one of the best extras in the DVD. Equally so for the storyboards, which cover seven scenes, including some that were cut or rewritten before production. The storyboards also include some conceptual art, which is always fun to look at.
Another cool bonus is the trailers, which include the main theatrical preview, a teaser, and a re-release trailer. All are very good, and even if they are a bit clunky with heavy-handed voice-overs, they hold up well by today's standards.
Rounding out the extras are your standard production notes which add virtually nothing that hadn't been said in the featurette, cast and filmmakers bios, something called 'Recommendations' (just a screen with pictures of other Spielberg movies), a screen saver for PCs with DVD-ROM, and information on how to sign up for Universal's DVD e-newsletter.
Despite the fact that a few of the extras are a bit shoddy, owning a great movie that never gets old is enough of a reason to buy this Collector's Edition. Plus, the good extras more than compensate for those that fall short of expectations. My only wish is that Spielberg had taken the time to record a commentary track (I sense that both Spielberg and Lucas have a bit of contempt for the whole DVD craze, since neither has exactly jumped on the bandwagon). It's the most glaring omission, and since Spielberg has yet to record an audio commentary for any of his DVD releases, we fans can only hope he does so at some point in the future.
[NOTE: Click on the editorial link provided at the bottom in order to see where the film ranked on our list of the Top 100 Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Films of All Time.]
JAWS. DVD released July 2000 by MCA Home Video. Theatrical release June 1975 by Universal/MCA. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, based on the novel by Benchley. Produced by David Brown and Richard Zanuck. Music by John Williams. Rated PG-13. 125 mins. Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Murray Hamilton, Loraine Gary.
| Spotlight on Location: The Making of Jaws | ||
| Deleted Scenes | ||
| Outtakes | ||
| 'Get Out of the Water' Trivia Game | ||
| Shark World (info on sharks) | ||
| Production Photos | ||
| Story Boards | ||
| Trailers | ||
| Production Notes | ||
| Cast and Filmmaker Bios | ||
| Recommendations | ||
| PC Screensaver | ||
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